Episode I - The Handsome Menace
Yeah yeah yeah, you've seen a million threads about this already. What makes this one different? Well, first of all, I'll be making this as hyper-accurate as I am able to with a couple mods I haven't seen anyone do yet. I'm also doing some mods that have been seen like grafting on the more detailed and accurate mouth plate from the Disney Store mask, I'm building/modding my own voice changer setup from a commercially available voice modulator kit, I'll be resurfacing it to get rid of ugly inaccurate chewed bubblegum texture, adding a screen accurate textured paint job, and it's all being done by the handsomest bearded ginger on The RPF, something that is lacking in all the other build threads:
Look at that sexy nerf herder!
Before we get started, listen to me yap about a few things please. First: It's been over a year since I've been active on this board. I got pretty burned out of the hobby for a while, and still kind of am, but really want to work on this personal project. Yes, the Anakin saber run is a big part of what burned me out, and I still have half a dozen or so of them left that I am trying to get out of my life forever and ever. Second: I am a very busy dude, and have very limited free time, so updates on this will be coming in sporadically, or not at all for a week or two. As such, I'm not always around to answer PMs or replies in the thread, but send away, and I'll answer stuff the best I can. Be patient. Thirdly & lastly: Be cool. I'm doing this solely for fun - for myself. I have pretty much the whole thing planned out, and I intend to do it that way. I don't need to hear why my A&B isn't as good an option as your Y&Z idea. By the time you're reading my updates, it's way too late for me to do anything. This is just a document of what I'm doing. Feel free to use whatever info you glean from it.
Anyway, on with the show!
The first thing you need to do is gut the sumbish like a trout! The voice changer in this thing sounds less like Kylo and more like a screaming Wookie being chased by angry bees down an enclosed water slide. More importantly though, all the added plastic inside to enclose the batteries and circuit board make the helmet sit a good two inches higher on your head than it should. Here's a before and after photo of the helmet pre and post gutting:
BIG difference. Hides my hairy jowls, AND actually allows my eyes to line up with the eye hole. What a novel idea!
Unfortunately, doing this leaves you with giant holes where the voice changer buttons were, as well as the large battery cover, which now has nothing to attach to. The button holes I'll just be filling in with bondo type stuff when I resurface the helmet. The batter cover, however, will have to be welded in, but so does the seam that separates the front and back of the helmet, so you can do them all in one go. More on that in a second.
Hole-y gutted helmet, Batman!
Before you start getting carried away on crazy mods, it's important you secure your main helmet section together so that it keeps it shape. If you have a soldering iron with a changeable tip, get a big fat one screwed in there (that's what she said), or if you're feeling fancy and have money to burn, get a plastic welder at Harbor Freight, or if you have NO money to burn, but have a candle to burn, heat up a flat head screwdriver and begin welding the plastic together both inside and outside the helmet.
Red squares were scrap styrene sheet laying in shop (For Sale sign) that I have backing the old botton holes.
Battery compartment and front/back seams welded together on exterior of helmet. This took a steady and delicate touch. You wanna keep it as smooth as possible. Feel free to go hog wild on the inside though to make sure it's securely melted and bonded. I even melted down spare plastic (from some of the stuff I gutted) to spread across the internal seam. At this point, I also used a pneumatic hand sander to rough up the exterior of the helmet to eventually have it prepped for resurfacing.
Now...this is the point of the build where if you are NOT going to be grafting on a new mouth plate section, you would start fiberglassing the inside of the helmet to make it more ridged. But this is not that kind of build! I am going to attempt to take the bottom half of the Disney Store exclusive mask, and seamlessly attach it to the BS helmet after lopping off its bottom.
That's it for part one. Part two is already complete. I will have that written up later tonight or tomorrow with their photos. Stay tuned.....
Yeah yeah yeah, you've seen a million threads about this already. What makes this one different? Well, first of all, I'll be making this as hyper-accurate as I am able to with a couple mods I haven't seen anyone do yet. I'm also doing some mods that have been seen like grafting on the more detailed and accurate mouth plate from the Disney Store mask, I'm building/modding my own voice changer setup from a commercially available voice modulator kit, I'll be resurfacing it to get rid of ugly inaccurate chewed bubblegum texture, adding a screen accurate textured paint job, and it's all being done by the handsomest bearded ginger on The RPF, something that is lacking in all the other build threads:
Look at that sexy nerf herder!
Before we get started, listen to me yap about a few things please. First: It's been over a year since I've been active on this board. I got pretty burned out of the hobby for a while, and still kind of am, but really want to work on this personal project. Yes, the Anakin saber run is a big part of what burned me out, and I still have half a dozen or so of them left that I am trying to get out of my life forever and ever. Second: I am a very busy dude, and have very limited free time, so updates on this will be coming in sporadically, or not at all for a week or two. As such, I'm not always around to answer PMs or replies in the thread, but send away, and I'll answer stuff the best I can. Be patient. Thirdly & lastly: Be cool. I'm doing this solely for fun - for myself. I have pretty much the whole thing planned out, and I intend to do it that way. I don't need to hear why my A&B isn't as good an option as your Y&Z idea. By the time you're reading my updates, it's way too late for me to do anything. This is just a document of what I'm doing. Feel free to use whatever info you glean from it.
Anyway, on with the show!
The first thing you need to do is gut the sumbish like a trout! The voice changer in this thing sounds less like Kylo and more like a screaming Wookie being chased by angry bees down an enclosed water slide. More importantly though, all the added plastic inside to enclose the batteries and circuit board make the helmet sit a good two inches higher on your head than it should. Here's a before and after photo of the helmet pre and post gutting:
BIG difference. Hides my hairy jowls, AND actually allows my eyes to line up with the eye hole. What a novel idea!
Unfortunately, doing this leaves you with giant holes where the voice changer buttons were, as well as the large battery cover, which now has nothing to attach to. The button holes I'll just be filling in with bondo type stuff when I resurface the helmet. The batter cover, however, will have to be welded in, but so does the seam that separates the front and back of the helmet, so you can do them all in one go. More on that in a second.
Hole-y gutted helmet, Batman!
Before you start getting carried away on crazy mods, it's important you secure your main helmet section together so that it keeps it shape. If you have a soldering iron with a changeable tip, get a big fat one screwed in there (that's what she said), or if you're feeling fancy and have money to burn, get a plastic welder at Harbor Freight, or if you have NO money to burn, but have a candle to burn, heat up a flat head screwdriver and begin welding the plastic together both inside and outside the helmet.
Red squares were scrap styrene sheet laying in shop (For Sale sign) that I have backing the old botton holes.
Battery compartment and front/back seams welded together on exterior of helmet. This took a steady and delicate touch. You wanna keep it as smooth as possible. Feel free to go hog wild on the inside though to make sure it's securely melted and bonded. I even melted down spare plastic (from some of the stuff I gutted) to spread across the internal seam. At this point, I also used a pneumatic hand sander to rough up the exterior of the helmet to eventually have it prepped for resurfacing.
Now...this is the point of the build where if you are NOT going to be grafting on a new mouth plate section, you would start fiberglassing the inside of the helmet to make it more ridged. But this is not that kind of build! I am going to attempt to take the bottom half of the Disney Store exclusive mask, and seamlessly attach it to the BS helmet after lopping off its bottom.
That's it for part one. Part two is already complete. I will have that written up later tonight or tomorrow with their photos. Stay tuned.....
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